They first began their emergency response support work in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina. They remained on the Gulf Coast for 5-1/2 months. And they’ve been leading tours for Fantasy for even longer – starting in 1997 – making them the longest continuous Fantasy staff members, with the exception of Nel Filliger, Fantasy’s Founder and CEO.
It was Nel who first got their Fantasy careers started. Duane and Peggy attended one of her seminars at a Rally in 1995 and she invited them to stop by her booth and complete a WagonMaster application. Two days later, they were invited to come to a training session. They declined. It wasn’t until two years later that they signed on, and within two weeks they were TailGunners on a Baja caravan. The following year they were TailGunners on a mainland Mexico tour, and then led two more Mexican tours that year as WagonMasters.
They have many with which to compare. They’ve worked on tours to Alaska, the Polar Bear tour, the Mardi Gras Rally and the Cajun Heartland tour among others. In September, they leave for the Mississippi River Run tour and this year have already completed the Kentucky Derby Rally, the Made in America Music tour and their current favorite, the 37-Day Baja tour. In 2007 they spent several months in Mazatlan camp hosting and helping to develop an RV park used by the tour groups.Since then, the Burdens estimate that they’ve led 20-30 tours into Mexico. “When we started, probably 99% of the tours Fantasy offered were into Mexico, and a couple up to Alaska,” says Duane. Although the mix has changed considerably since then, the Burdens still rank the Mexican tours as their favorites.
Both Duane and Peggy consider group travel in Baja to be both safe and enjoyable, but they do take precautions to ensure the security of their Fantasy guests. “We’ve never had a problem,” says Duane. “We travel caravan style and stay in contact by radio, and although we do give guests the option of driving on their own, they never do. We get the Mexico visas the day before we cross the border, which expedites the crossing. Occasionally, Mexican customs officials will want to go inside the rigs to check, but that’s mainly out of curiosity.”
Peggy contacts all of their Baja guests prior to the trip and outlines for them what to expect when traveling in the area. “The beauty of our Baja trips is that we do a lot of beach camping,” she says. “This means it’s dry camping and we want people to be properly prepared and aware of this. Probably half of our guests have never been on an RV caravan previously, but they are really well informed about the road conditions and the parks where we’ll stay.”
The Burdens also alert their guests about Mexican border control stops. “We know where they’re located, and we prepare everyone and just tell them to be courteous,” says Duane. “Again, we’ve never had a problem.”
Reentering the United States from Baja also goes smoothly for the Fantasy caravans. “U.S. Customs will check refrigerators just to be sure there are no vegetables or fruit coming in,” says Duane. And although the Burdens don’t travel with pets, they haven’t experienced any problems in this area. “Sometimes U.S. officials will ask for paperwork on the pets, and sometimes they don’t,” he adds.
Prior to joining Fantasy, Peggy was a production manager for an outside sales company and Duane owned a machine shop in Arlington, Washington. They started RVing during the 70’s, when Duane bought Peggy a motorhome for her birthday. “I was pregnant and wanted to stop camping in tents,” she says. They now own their fifth motorhome, and also expanded their family to three children and four grandchildren including a special needs adopted granddaughter. In addition to their fire prevention and Fantasy activities, family life keeps them busy.
At last year’s Fantasy WagonMaster training course, Nel presented the Burdens with a 20-year service award and a beautiful mantle clock – the first staff members to receive this award. With this long history of contributions behind them, it will be interesting to see what the next 20 years have in store for Duane and Peggy.